When the government is caught spying on people it’s quick to justify its actions as being necessary for national security. But when private companies, at least ones not tied to the state’s own surveillance apparatus, spy on people the state claims it’s a tragedy. I’m not a fan of spying regardless of who’s doing it but I also can’t stand hypocrisy. Al Franken, one of Minnesota’s two psychotic senators, has a bug up his ass over Uber. I can only imagine that the company hasn’t been willing to become a full member of the state’s surveillance apparatus because Franken has been coming down on it hard:
For the last month the senator has pressed the company to be more transparent and accountable in how it handles the data associated with its burgeoning number of passengers around the world.
“My biggest concern is that they seem to have no policy,” said Franken, who chairs a subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law. “They have all this very sensitive data and they seem to have absolutely no real privacy policy.”
This is rich coming from a man who defended the National Security Agency’s (NSA) widespread surveillance of Americans. If anybody has been collecting very sensitive data without any privacy police it’s the NSA. And while I don’t trust Uber with the data it collects I at least know it’s not collecting things like my phones calls, e-mails, and other communications. Perhaps Franken should first invest time in writing up a privacy police for the NSA and then deal with the smaller fish like Uber. At least then he wouldn’t sounds like such a hypocrite.
Here’s a draft policy: “We will collect and store any personal data we want. You will have no right to view records kept on you or appeal for their removal. If you don’t have anything to hide, you have nothing to fear.”